Change for the better
by MishWish
Summary: The war is finally over.. The only survivors of all the shinobi nations, Naruto, Lee, Shikamaru and Gaara, decided to travel back to their genin days. Their mission: To change for the better.
1. Prologue: The war is finally over

It's all over. All the bloodshed, the pain of losing those who were precious, the tears. The grass dyed crimson red. Lifeless corpses littered the field..Finally.. The war is over.

"It's finally over." A whiskered blonde whispered as he scanned the destroyed village. There wasn't a single building intact. The hokage monument reduced into a pile of dirt.

"Rokudaime-sama." The blonde turned his head to look at the survivor of the attack. "Lee, where is Shikamaru and Gaara?" The blonde asked the shinobi in green.

As the shinobi opened his mouth to answer, a cloud of smoke and a swirl of sand appeared beside him. "Gaara, any survivors?" The blonde asked the red-head.

A simple "No." came out of the red-head's mouth. "We're the only survivors." The shinobi known as Shikamaru spoke as he looked into the blonde's azure eyes.

Their eyes shared the same look. Pain, sorrow, sadness, loneliness, despair. They're the last few standing.

"_Choji" "Gai-sensei" "Temari.. Kankuro" "Sasuke..Sakura..Kakashi-sensei" _All their loved ones, gone, dead.

"_everyone."_


	2. 1: They had succeeded

Disclaimer: I'm going to say this once ( 'Cause it's too troublesome XD), I do not own Naruto!

* * *

A blonde wearing a coat with the kanji for 'Rokudaime Hokage' on the back was kneeling on a grassy field, drawing lines and kanji with his own blood.

His name is Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure, and one of the only four survivors of the war.

Three men stood a fair distance away in silence, watching their friend drawing seals for a space-time ninjutsu. The three men were silently mourning over the death of all their precious ones, holding back tears that were threatening to spill.

After what seems like forever, with one last drop of blood, the blonde finished the seals for the jutsu. It was definitely the work of a seal master, possibly the greatest masterpiece of fuinjutsu ever created.

It was risky. It was stupid. The likelihood of success was grim.

But they have nothing left to lose.

"It's done." The blonde wiped the sweat on his forehead, stood up and looked down at his work. It took him hours to finish the seals, his back and knees were killing him. His fingers were no better. If it wasn't for Kurama, he would have bled to death in the process.

Shikamaru, Lee and Gaara jumped into the center of the bloody red seal. "You know what to do." The blonde hokage knelt down and placed his hands on the seal. The three shinobi did the same and started channeling chakra into the massive seal.

After what seemed like forever, the seal glowed dark purple. The four shinobi could feel their chakra draining away. Lee and Shikamaru having smaller chakra reserves collapsed first, but their hands remained fused to the seal. Gaara, using everything he had and being the ex-jinchuriki of Shukaku had soon followed.

The blonde hokage bit on his lips to prevent himself from crying out. He can hardly breathe as pain overwhelmed every sense and every nerve of his body.

The seal absorbed almost all of their chakra, leaving them with serious chakra depletion. If it wasn't for Gaara's and Naruto's massive chakra reserve, they would have joined the others on the other side.

The seal glowed brighter and brighter by the second, and with a final flash of light, the field that surrounded them faded to black. As they gave in to the darkness, a smile was formed on each of their faces.

They had succeeded.

* * *

The last thing Naruto remembered before passing out was a flash of bright light. When the blonde regained consciousness, he scanned his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was.

Suddenly, his 12 years worth of memories hit him like a water bullet, filling him to the brim. It felt like he had dispelled millions of kage bunshin, leaving him with a massive headache. It was something he hadn't experienced in a long time, but then again, it was 12 years worth of memories.

Naruto couldn't remember how long he felt overwhelming pain. It could have been seconds or years in his mind. Suppressing his massive headache, he desperately searched his mind for information on where he was and what part of the timeline did he and his comrades travelled back to.

But there were bigger priorities right now, like assessing his Bijuu's situation, or checking if his comrades arrived safely.

_"__Kurama, are you there?"_

"**Urghh.. If this is what you humans call a 'hangover', then I will never understand why your kind would willingly do something to get one.." **Kurama said, his voice was weak from the strain of the technique but still held a demonic touch to it. **"You ok, Naruto?"**

_"__I think so.."_ Naruto returned. _"But I feel strange. Like I'm less than what I should be."_

**"****Because you are, brat."**

Naruto's eyes widened. Kurama hadn't called him that since god-knows-how-long. Realization dawned on him as he looked over himself. He was at the academy, and he was tiny _again_! _"What the !?"_ He mentally shouted, _"Why am I a kid again? This wasn't in the plan!"_

"**Calm down, brat." **Kurama tried to calm him down. **"I think I know what happened." **He waited for Naruto to chill before continuing. **"I think it goes that two of the same thing can't exist in the same space. Evidently in order for the technique to work, the seal had to rip your chakra and soul out of your body and send it back in time to join with your past body. The process is eerily similar to how the chakra of a dispelling kage bunshin returns to the user along with its memories. Understand?"**

_"__Uhh.. No."_ Naruto thought as he shook his head.

**"****Me neither.." **Kurama admitted. Naruto felt Kurama stiffen within him. **"We're about to confirm when and where we are. Be on your toes, Naruto. Remember the plan!" **Kurama shouted as he faded back to the darkness in his cage.

_"__Wha-"_ Naruto was about to ask when he heard a familiar voice shouting his name.

"I finally found you, Naruto!"

It was none other than_ the _Umino Iruka. The man who died in the future, protecting Konohamaru by taking the jutsu through his skull. The man who was willing to sacrifice himself for others. A shinobi with the will of fire burning brightly within.

* * *

"Congratulations, Naruto. You pass!"

Naruto smiled as he gave his teacher a hug, knocking the both of them to the ground. Naruto didn't change this part of the timeline, in fact, he was happy how it turned out in the first place.

Iruka found him, Naruto gave him some explanations, Mizuki showed up and busted an S-ranked secret, Naruto _pretended _to be shocked, Iruka told Mizuki that Naruto wasn't the demon fox and Naruto proceeded to kick Mizuki's ass.

After a little talk, Iruka and Naruto parted ways. Iruka went to return the forbidden scroll while Naruto walked himself back home. It was a painfully long walk as images of the destroyed village keep appearing in his mind.

After god-knows-how long, he finally reached his apartment. He locked his door and ran straight for his bedroom. He crawled onto his bed and started meditating. When he opened his eyes, he was in front of Kurama's cage.

_"__Hey! Why are you still in the cage? Didn't I open it for you already?"_

**"****Well, genius.. What part of 'intelligence and chakra returns with you but not the body' do you not understand?"**

_"__Oh, I get it! I haven't opened the cage in this part of the timeline yet.. So - Wait a minute! Does this mean I have to relearn all my jutsu!? That's not fair!"_

**"****You idiot! It means that you'll have to train your body to match yours in the future. You're not as strong or as fast as you're used to. But you can still perform a jutsu that you know since you're knowledge is still with you. However, you really need to work on your chakra control.. You'll suck at it."**

_"__What do you mean!? Stop talking fancy with me!"_

**"****Since your chakra from the future and the past is mixed together and trapped in that small body of yours, you're going to experience a massive chakra overload. That means, you'll have really bad chakra control and you'll have to use up a lot of your chakra or you'll die. God! How do you even become the Rokudaime Hokage anyway!?"**

Naruto gave Kurama a sheepish grin as he unconsciously placed his hands on the back of his head. _"Ok, Ok.. I get it now.. Sheesh!"_As Kurama was getting ready to fire Naruto another insult, both of them sensed two familiar chakra signals approaching Naruto's apartment.

**"****Looks like you have visitors, brat." **Kurama said as he pushed Naruto out of his mindscape and back to the realm of consciousness. As Naruto was about to check out who it was, a familiar voice was heard from the window.

"Naruto, do you not know what 'safety' means?" A boy with brown hair said.

"Shikamaru! Lee! What are you doing here!? Wait! Are you..?" Naruto left his question hanging. He had to make sure the both of them are _the_ Shikamaru and Lee from the future before he said something that will affect the progress of the timeline.

"Yes, we are.. Rokudaime-sama." Shikamaru said as both he and Lee entered through the window. "So, I guess everyone arrived safely?" Naruto said he closed the window. Shikamaru rolled his eyes while Lee tilted his head slightly.

After a moment of silence, Naruto decided to break the silence. " So.. Kurama told me that our intelligence and chakra returns with us but not the body.. So, anyone up for training tomorrow? I really need help on my speed and taijutsu.."

"But we have to go to the academy for team assignments and Lee has to go for a team meeting." Shikamaru said while Lee nodded, agreeing with Shikamaru.

"Duh, future advisor.. Shadow clones and a simple henge should do the trick." Naruto said. Shikamaru face-palmed and said "Lee has no access to his chakra _yet_."

Even though Lee was born handicapped, unable to mold chakra, but Naruto was able to fix it in the future. Ah.. the power of seals and human anatomy. After that, Lee was able to use chakra, but only on low-leveled ninjutsu and genjutsu. But still, Lee was satisfied and grateful.

"Easy breezy, Shika. We do it now!" Naruto said as he looked at Lee. Lee simply smiled and nodded, giving the blonde permission to proceed.

* * *

After a few hours, a lot of chakra and a lot of blood, the seal was completed. The seal was placed on Lee's abdomen, where he last had it. The seal allowed Lee to use his chunin-leveled chakra reserve, as his chakra from the future had fused with his past.

"We're done." Naruto said as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead."With two hours to spare." Shikamaru added as he looked at Naruto's clock. Two more hours to go for the team assignments.

"You guys should probably go home. Your parents must be worried if they found out that you're missing." Naruto said, the latter was addressed to Shikamaru as Lee was an orphan.

Naruto walked towards his closet and took out one of his 'Kill Me!' orange jumpsuit.

He walked towards the bathroom for a cold shower. When the bathroom door closed, Shikamaru and Lee headed for the window.

"He seriously needs to get rid of that horrible jumpsuit!"

"Ya, ya.. Like you're the one to talk, Lee."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the late update.. Kinda busy lately( It's a lie, I'm just lazy XD). Give me some suggestions and stuff-like-that.. Ok, ja-ne!~


End file.
